Being a member of the press can be a dangerous game. When your job revolves around scrutinizing people’s lives, creative work, and hard-earned reputations, the margin for error is razor-thin. Get your reporting twisted or create chaos for the wrong people, and you aren’t just looking at losing your press badge; you could easily find yourself dragged into a soul-crushing legal battle. And if you trade in sensationalism? Well, you’d better double down on your caution. Beyond keeping your own neck out of the noose, you have to protect your sources, and in the world of tabloid journalism, that code of ethics gets messy fast.
In the official trailer for Netflix’s Ink, legendary filmmaker Danny Boyle dives headfirst into the seedy underbelly of The Sun, a publication notorious for stirring the pot, throwing gasoline on culture-war fires, and rarely bothering to quell the flames.
Set in the pressure-cooker environment of 1969, Ink spotlights rising media tycoon Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) as he acquires the struggling daily paper and joins forces with ruthless editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell). Together, the pair transform the outlet into Britain’s most sensational, influential, and relentless tabloid behemoth. Claire Foy also stars in the sprawling media drama.
The film is adapted from the Tony Award–winning stage play by multi-Olivier Award winner James Graham, who found immediate inspiration in the cutthroat habitat of 1960s journalism. “I’ve done a lot of plays, TV dramas, and films set in the world of our institutions, and there was something about Fleet Street [that] completely seduced me,” Graham told TUDUM. “Almost no other country in the world has their newspapers entirely in one self-contained community.”
JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray caught Ink at TIFF earlier this year, singling out Jack O’Connell as “electric” in Boyle’s scathing docudrama. In his review, Chris noted:
“Ink is one of Netflix’s big awards titles this fall, and they would be wise to push O’Connell in the Best Actor category. He merits it, although Boyle makes a few missteps, including two obvious uses of AI that leave a sour taste in one’s mouth, especially in a movie that’s all about ethics. Even still, though, it’s another good piece of work for him and quite entertaining.”
Ink arrives in select theaters on December 11, 2026, followed by its wide Netflix premiere on January 8, 2027. Are you adding Danny Boyle’s latest media thriller to your watch list? Let us know in the comments below!